Al-Qaeda Plot Thwarted in Pakistan

Terrorists were planning massive attacks in Pakistan for earlier this month, but were prevented from doing so by key arrests by Pakistani authorities, according to this news item on Pakistan arrests which I've been able to find only on Netscape.

Headline of the Day

From the CNN front page, presented here without further comment:


Bible study class meets at Hooters to reach 'unchurched'

Morning Report: August 23, 2004

Arson destroys Paris Jewish center. A Jewish community center in Paris was destroyed by arson in a pre-dawn attack Sunday. The incident harmed no one but gutted the six-story building. Thanks to Charles at Little Green Footballs for the link.For the New York Times spin, and its disturbing implications, read the news analysis at LGF and follow the discussion thread.

Leftist cyber-strike backfires. And speaking of LGF, the great minds at Indymedia had the bright idea to threaten a Denial of Service (DOS) attack on LGF and several other sites not to their taste. They also boasted of having hacked into Protest Warrior's mailing list. Read the rest of the story - original post and the unfolding saga of the comments section - at the link.

A hate crime? No certain motive has yet been found for the execuation-style killing of Lindsay Cutshall, 23, and her fiance Jason Allen, 26, as they slept on the beach in Sonoma County, California. No evidence of suicide, sexual assault, or robbery was found. But a Sonoma County Sheriff's spokeswoman, calling the slayings "very odd", indicated that the young couple may have been victims of a hate crime - murdered for their evangelical Christian beliefs.

Morning Report: August 22, 2004

Iran regime's West Asian arm-twisting betrays desperation. Amid an ever-increasing bluster of threats, the Iranian regime bullied two Western-allied nations into reducing their strategic cooperation with Israel, according to this Debka report. 'When Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan visited Tehran in late June, he was informed in no uncertain terms by spiritual ruler Ali Khamenei and president Mohammed Khatami that if he wants good relations with the Iranian regime with concomitant economic benefits, such as cheap oil and gas, he must end Turkey’s military ties with Israel. Erdogan agreed to bar Turkish air space to Israeli warplanes stationed in Turkey or incoming from Israel for use as a corridor for striking Iranian nuclear and military installations.' Debka notes that Erdogan's stance has shifted away from Washington and Jerusalem in recent months. The article also discloses that during a recent visit to Azerbaijan, ostensibly to discuss bilateral security and trade issues, a group of Iranian intelligence officers also appeared in Baku to demand that Azerbaijan end its strategic cooperation with Israel. The article concludes that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon may be hindered from dealing effectively with the Iranian threat by domestic worries over his disengagement plans, which have generated fierce opposition within his own Likud party. (Comment: possibly Washington was seeking to ease the pressure on Sharon when it softened its demands on the evacuation of Jewish settlements.)

"I tell ya, I wuz there, man!" The Belmont Club deconstructs the cultural meta-message of the Najaf shrine standoff, which is, yes, still going on.

Kerry, in his own words. Jane at Armies of Liberation predicts that reaction to John Kerry's Vietnam images will result in a backlash against the officer-turned-war-protester-turned-senator-turned-presidential-candidate.

Fugitive Marzook denies charges in Damascus, media mum on CAIR link. Little Green Footballs supplies one of two little green details missing from an AP story on Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau. Read the item, and follow the discussion on the CAIR-terror link.

Rights and Privileges

Dhimmi Watch gets it just right when noting that lefties might think twice before comparing opponents of gay marriage to the Taliban. That is to say, let's keep a sense of porportion, especially when we learn that Zanzibar bans gay sex.

Let me make myself really clear here. I am not impressed with those who claim to be fighting for the rights of women, gays, and ethnic and religious minorities in America, while ignoring the oppression of minorities, gay people, women, and human beings in general in other parts of the world. If you care only about the rights of American gays, American women, American minorities, then you are not fighting for "rights" at all, but for privileges.

Do I support gay marriage? Yes, absolutely, without a doubt. But what do gay people in Zanzibar - or Iran, or Algeria - care about your right to marry when their right to freedom, perhaps their very right to live, is in jeopardy?

The New Republican: Mirror Image

Continuing its valiant attempt to portray the Democratic party as viable and relevant, The New Republic offers us a glimpse inside the Democratic National Convention in the August 2 and August 9, 2004, print issues.

In the August 2 issue (TRB, p. 6), Peter Beinart offers his thoughts in advance of the Democratic and Republican conventions. "The two parties' conclaves are shaping up as mirror images of one another", he writes. Citing the lineup of moderate and even liberal Republicans slated to speak in New York (John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, Rod Paige, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Zell Miller - oh, wait, he isn't even a Republican), Beinart explains that this is evidence of the GOP's "ideological insecurity".

This is quite interesting, because it was Beinart who told us just two weeks earlier that John Kerry displayed "true self-confidence" by choosing the sharply contrasting Edwards for a runningmate. (Edwards, to whom the party's left wing, "represented by groups like MoveOn.org", "gave their hearts" once bereft of Howard Dean.)

But if Beinart can manage a wry sneer at the Republican convention, he can't conceal his outright worry over the prospect of this year's Democratic event. "If Bush Republicans lack ideological self-confidence, the Kerry Democrats may have too much of it," he says uneasily of a "shockingly realistic picture of what the Democratic Party really is. And that means liberalism is on tap virtually every night."

"I doubt the Kerry campaign tried to stock the podium with liberals. They simply chose the people in the party with mass appeal, great promise, or both. ... And, unsurprisingly, it produced a convention roster that looks - and sounds - like the Democratic Party." That, Beinart says, is the problem: he contrasts this year's convention with earlier events in which "each [speaker] represented the party not as it was, but as it might have been had liberal interest groups not exercised such control over the nominating process."

If Peter Beinart wrote in blogspeak, he'd say: "What's up with all these f***ing moonbats?" Or something like that.

The DNC will present an "admirably honest" picture of today's Democrats. "But just because it's honest doesn't make it wise." So Beinart says of the Democratic Party; but looking at the GOP, Beinart discerns a left-of-Republican-center lineup that can only mean "a party unwilling to reveal its true face to the nation." So which is it, Peter?

What really worries the Democrats is that the upcoming Republican convention just might be the "true face" of the Republican Party: one that values principled individuals and inclusive organizations; one that sees tolerance and responsibility not as opposing, but as complementary; one in which unity is born of diversity. This is why so many former Democrats are now Republicans.

Are the two conventions - and by extension, the two parties - really "mirror images" of one another? In some ways, yes: the Republicans have become the party of responsible change, progress, and human rights; while the Democrats have become the reactionary, anti-democratic party, now reduced to defending third-rate dictators.

But the symmetry is not complete. Many of the positive changes that liberals of the last generation fought for have become part of the mainstream. Other battles, like gay rights, have yet to be won, but now enjoy support within the Republican party, where conversation on such issues is most meaningful. What do the Democrats have left to offer? Very little - only the rhetoric of dissatisfaction.

More on the Iraqi football (soccer) players ...

Take a moment to examine this report on the incident from al-Jazeera-on-the-Thames. The leader for this piece asserts that "Iraq's successful Olympic football team has launched an outspoken attack on US President George W Bush." But the article provides no evidence that "the team" did any such thing. The piece quotes the coach and two of the Iraqi soccer players - Salih Sadir and Ahmed Manajid (the latter from Fallujah) - with anti-American comments. With a single cursory sentence it dismisses the Ba'ath regime's notorious abuse of Iraq's olympic team: "The team said they were glad Iraq's former Olympic committee head Uday Hussein - Saddam Hussein's notorious son killed by US forces after the invasion - was no longer in charge."

But did any of the other footballers express different sentiments? The Ba'athist Broadcasting Corporation is not interested in that question. But Omar wonders: "all the reporter could come up with were comments from 2 players and the coach out of 22 players and several trainers, medical staff...etc So if those were the 'best' comments he could get, I'm interested to know what were the comments of the others ..."

Iran: Regime Executes Girl for "Sharp Tongue"

Girl, 16, hanged in public in Iran

Source:
Free Iran

'On Sunday, August 15, a 16-year-old girl in the town of Neka, northern
Iran, was executed. Atefeh Sahaleh was hanged in public on Simetry Street
off Rah Ahan Street at the city center.

The sentence was issued by the head of Neka’s Justice Department and
subsequently upheld by the mullahs’ Supreme Court ...

She told the religious judge, Haji Rezaii,
that he should punish the main perpetrators of moral corruption not the
victims.
...
After her execution Rezai said her punishment was not execution but he had
her executed for her “sharp tongue”.'

Reflecting on our Various Strategic Options in the Persian Gulf

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's defense minister expressed his government's disquiet about the U.S. troop presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, and hinted that some Iranian generals believe they should strike first if they sense an imminent U.S. threat.

Iran Uneasy over US Presence


All together, now, repeat after me:

Go. Ahead. Make. Our. Day.

A Home for Steve-O

What if someone you knew was involved in a gang of criminals and murderers? Would you turn them in?

What if it was your own father?

And what if it meant that your mother would pay with her life?

Welcome to the world of Steve-O. If you haven't read it yet, his story is here:
Bringing Steve-O to the States

Here's the address for donations:

JH Iraqi Youth Trust
6660 Delmonico Drive
Suite D
#410
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Well, what are you waiting for?
Hat tip: Buckeye Abroad at LGF

Jewish Chaplain Serves Proudly in Iraq

From Chabad.org Magazine:

' I'm in Hawaii, He's in Iraq: Why Are We Doing This?
By Dini Felzenberg

It's been 190 days since my husband, Rabbi Captain Shmuel Felzenberg, left from our base in Hawaii to Kuwait and eventually to Iraq. Not that I am counting. Nor do I know the very exact amount of days (and minutes) that remain until his anticipated return in February, 2005. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter much, as these deployments always seem to get delayed and the only way to not be disappointed is to not have any expectations.
...
So you are probably wondering about my husband. He, too, was raised in an Orthodox home, became involved with Chabad a little later in life, learned in the Morristown Yeshivah, the Rabbinical College of America, and continued on to get his rabbinical ordination from Kfar Chabad in Israel. Also not exactly the type of guy you'd expect to be serving in Iraq.

But I guess when something is truly right for you, no matter how seemingly impractical or out of the ordinary, you find yourself doing what you are meant to do. And without question, my husband is meant to be in Iraq right now ...'


Read the whole article at the link:

Rebbetzin's Iraq Story

Thanks to Gila for sending this!

The New Republican: "Edwards for Vice-President!" - TNR

Hey, guys, whatever works.

Unable to come up with a single solid reason for supporting John Kerry as a candidate for President, the editors of The New Republic have taken to extolling the virtues of a putative Vice President Edwards. Peter Beinart (July 19, 2004 print issue, p. 6) opines that Kerry's choice of Edwards shows "a trait rare among politicians: true self-confidence". In passing over lesser-known candidates, Kerry shows courage: "If Gephardt and Vilsack would have obscured Kerry's deficiencies, Edwards exposes them: He's a better speaker than Kerry; he's got a more compelling life story; he has a more powerful critique of the president. Unlike Gephardt, he clearly would use the vice presidency as a stepping stone. Unlike Vilsack, he enjoys an independent base in the party."

Edwards is a better speaker than Kerry ... hmmm, that's not saying much. Heck, Kerry is a better speaker than GWB, but Bush is funnier. Of course, maybe it's time someone took the spotlight off Kerry's own "compelling life story", especially as we find out that more and more of it is just that - a story.

But Beinart has to admit that Kerry's "confident" choice was really born of necessity: every poll indicated that Edwards as a running-mate represented Kerry's ONLY hope of launching a viable opposition to the incumbent George W. Bush. So in a sense, the Democratic Party is running Kerry and Kerry is running Edwards. Hence, "it is Kerry who is shifting his message in response to Edwards". This, according to Beinart, is further evidence of Kerry's invaluable "flexibility".

But the fact remains that the Democrats picked Kerry, not Edwards, to represent them in the contest for the highest office in the land; and in the coming general election, it is Kerry, not Edwards, whom the American electorate will be weighing against President Bush. The picture Beinart gives us isn't one of a strong yet broad-minded candidate who prides himself on an inclusive decision-making style; rather, it's one of a cynical attempt by a desperate Democratic Party to wrest political power away from its ever-more-restless rabble. As the gap between the DNC intelligentsia and the DU mob grows wider, the relevance of a Kerry-Edwards ticket will dwindle. A great vice-presidential candidate does not necessarily create a great presidential candidate - or a successful one.

Beinart ends with the curious claim that Bush's "vision of national security didn't change, even after September 11". Huh? That must be why all the political commentators have noted GWB's dramatic shift away from isolationist policy. As Big Pharaoh wrote, "I don't care about the past. Bush was born on September 11, 2001."